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Summary: A concert in Central Park to raise awareness to save some 'fancy waddling birds' erupts into chaos and flames!
Date: April 26, 2009
Log Title: Save the Penguins!
Rating: PG-13
Central Park
It may be warm today but it's not affected turn out to the even taking place in Central Park this evening. A charity concert being run by an environmental group to promote awareness and gather names on a petition to try and prevent an oil company from building in certain locations. It's gathered all sort of people, including one student from Xavier's. Owen Folger, having invited along anyone willing to come, lowers his sunglasses over his eyes and grins. He's dressed in cargo shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt, just enjoying the sun as he enters the main area. "Just what Ah needed. A nice, big day of fun," he muses, looking around at all the booths selling food and t-shirts leading up to the stage by the lake.
July is standing close to Owen, also wearing sunglasses to shield her eyes and try to conceal her identity some. She lets out a soft sigh as Owen mentions 'fun'. "Those guys were never 'fun' to me." she says, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she watches the environmentalists cry about ecology and such. "The more radical of those people were always a bother for my father and us, back home." she shakes her head a bit, keeping her voice low for now.
There really isn't anything else to do on a Sunday when you're bored than to just hang at the park. Kaji's lounging on one of the benches near the side of the crowd; just watching the concert at the moment. Dressed in his casual garb, a vest, tanktop and shorts; he really isn't here for much else than relaxing. He leans back against the bench and just watches for the moment.
Julian came to the demonstration concert, not having anything else to do today. The telekinetic is dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. no shorts it seems for this young man on the hot day in Central Park. "Yeah, I'm just here for the tunes." He says, he likes to go out to different concerts. A pair of sunglasses shield his eyes from the bright sun out today. He doesn't care about keeping his identity secret, it's just bright outside.
Laura did want to come, really. She felt a little awkward moving with a big group of students such as this, but all in all, well, she was moving along with the rest of the gang. Dressed a bit scantily, she was wearing a dark purple spaghetti strap tank top, and a pair of jean shorts - an outfit that ~really~ didn't go with the big, gothic-esque boots she was wearing. Or the gloves, really. Laura wasn't wearing sunglasses, and as a result, she was squinting a fair bit more as she steps along. Well, that and relying a bit more on her other senses.
Owen laughs a bit, starting to walk deeper into the area and hoping the students with him follow. "That's what Ah meant. The music and the food. Don' care much 'bout the causes that aren' gonna get anywhere. Those big companies wouldn' care if they dropped a dump-truck full o' signatures on 'em," he says as they go.
On stage, quintet is playing a pretty upbeat rock song. The lead singer's jumping around and people seem to be enjoying it. It's nothing chart-topping but it was free so…what can ya expect? As the song ends, a rather mousy woman comes up on stage to grap the microphone. "Alright! Before we get onto the next song, let me remind you that representatives are moving through the crowd with clipboards. Please, sign so we can stop the needless destruction of the habitats of endangered creatures!" she urges the crowd. No sooner, but one of those clipboard-weilding people in bright green comes up to Kaji, asking for him to sign.
July nods softly as she follows Owen, while keeping her shaded eyes looking at the environmental group for a while before just looking ahead while following, "I know. But it's kind of hard to ignore when the radicals storm into your property, ransacking stuff 'in the name of the environment'." she shrugs softly, but remains quiet for now while listening to he music. Until it ends, and he woman starts talking, of course. That makes July frown.
Kaji looks at the clipboard, taking it for a moment before he reads it and he shrugs a bit. He scrawls his name on there quickly before he gives it back to her with a small grin. Mainly just to get her to leave him alone mainly as he looks back at the stage right as the clipboard leaves his hands and he tells her 'You're welcome' for him signing it.
Julian simply rolls his eyes at July when she complains about the hippies. He's from California, hippy central. It's just a way of life there. The telekinetic just waits for the mousy woman to get on with it, and let the bend get to the next song. He's not in the mood for a rally today. Wether it be to stop the slaughter of carrots for salads, or to stop something actually worthwhile.
Laura lifts her chin, squinting up at the clouds as the music plows on. Face pinching a bit, she lowers her chin and breathes out a sigh, glancing left and right along the crowd. Speaking up, she asks the rest of the crowd she's with, "What is the point of all this?"
"Apparently, they wanna stop something called Roxxon from buildin' some facility where some penguins are livin'," Owen chimes in reply tp Laura, leaning back to read an information display. "All this for a buncha fancy waddlin' birds?" he asks the group in general. As the clipboard woman moves away from Kaji, the lead singer of the band takes up the mic again.
"Alright, folks! I know some of you won't have any idea what this next song is but I'm sure you'll love it," he says with a grin. The girl at the drums kicks off the song and once more it seems to be pretty upbeat and rockish. "Catch my heart! V-" the singer begins only to not get to finish. People are stunned as a bright red bolt of energy strikes the guitar, lighting it aflame and causing the poor shirtless singer to toss it away in terror.
"We'll just fry it instead!" comes the voice of a man from not too far. Standing atop one of the booths is a man in a black costume with red flame decorations. Flying by his side and slightly above is a woman in orange and red, hands ablaze with energy. "Torch the hippies!" the man laughs out, flinging a bolt of plasma at the stage and destroying the drumset as the drummer dives off stage. People are stunned for just a moment before the screaming and panic begins.
July gets a bit relieved when this group's focus is Roxxon, and then she looks back to the stage while Owen explains to Laura the reason of these hippies' protests, right when the guitar is blasted aflame, "Wow!" she says, jerking in surprise, her eyes then following the trajectory of the blast to look at the costumed villains, and she frowns "Ah, great…" she mumbles.
Kaji's eyes grow wide at the bolt hitting the guitar, and he's on his feet in a flash. That moment of silence extends to Kaji as well as he sets his eyes on the two people who attacked the stage. As the panic rushed through the crowds, Kaji starts to run with the crowd before he breaks off and leaps up into one of the trees. So he could not get trampled and so he could shift in silent; which he does as his body changes.
As the stage gets attacked, the telekinetic automatically follows the bolt back to it's origin. His eyes glow green with telekinetic energy as he starts to lift himself above the madness below. He looks to Laura and offers. "C'mon. Let's get these two dumbasses." Offering to lift her along with to start an offensive. Wether or not she takes it, Julian will fly over to give the two a beat down.
The sound of mass panic was almost overwhelming and painful. Trying her hardest to tune out that sound, Laura frowns, her brow furrowing in sudden concentration. "In a minute." she tells Julian. Sidestepping, she deliberately plants herself in front of Owen, to serve as best she can as a human shield for him, from the crowd. The others she believed could take care of themselves if they started to get trampled or something. She didn't know about Owen. Those two costumed guys on stage? One step at a time. Friends not getting killed was more important - shouldn't take too long for the concert-goers to clear out regardless.
As another bolt of plasma blasts a hole in the stage, the supervillain known as Firebolt hops over the next bolt. He throws another before letting out a laugh when the mousy woman that was on the stage gets knocked down. "All yours, babe," the man laughs, the woman with him just rolling her eyes. Adjusting the hoses connected to her hand slightly, Stratosfire heads towards the stage with a smug expressiong, prepping a bolt of something in her palms.
Owen meanwhile is getting bumped and shoved but manages to keep his footing. He offers a slight smile to Laura when he notices what she's doing before glancing towards July. "Ya'll might wanna get somewhere safe?" he suggests to the girl. The teen pauses when he sees something. "Pardon me a moment, ladies," he says, vanishing in a quick puff of DarkForce. He reappears, fuzzy, on stage, and grabs the mousy woman before teleporting them both away just in time to avoid an energy blast from Stratosfire. The teen reappears under the tree Kaji's busy changing in, dropping the woman off and heading back into the fray. Meanwhile, Firebolt turns to see Julian, scowling. "We got capes!" he calls. "I know!" comes Stratosfire's annoyed reply.
July is told to go somewhere safe, but she cannot. She's a bit stunned, but then she shakes her head to get her bearings straight before heading behind a tree, keeping an eye on the guys as Owen rescues the woman. 'Better remain hidden for now' the rubbergirl mutters to herself.
Kaji looks down when Owen appears with the woman, he stays silent as Owen runs off. With a leap down to land a bit away from the lady, he looks over and says, "Either stay here and don't move. Or run and get some place safe." After he says that, he starts to head back towards the stage. The anthro looks at the others as he comes to a stop a good distance from them before he looks up at the two villains. Those hoses catching his attention now that he gets a good look in.
The telekinetic reaches out a hand towards Firebolt, attempting to grab him. "You're right you've got capes. Quit this shit now, and maybe you'll just get a small stint." He gives an ultimatum to the supervillains.
He could teleport. Laura shouldn't have worried about him. Mentally chiding herself as a panicked concertgoer bumps into her, Laura starts to move and duck, before bending her knees and leaping straight up into the air, her enhanced strength giving her jump a fair bit of height. "Julian!" she calls out at the apex of the jump, her green eyes going straight to the stage. There was a temptation to extend her claws, but considering that the other mutant might not catch her, going back into the crowd with those things extended might hurt someone.
"Ya'll gonna be okay, July?" Owen asks as he skids to a halt by the rubber-girl's hiding spot. Peeking out, be blinks when he sees Kaji. "When'd Pallaton get here?" he asks, mistaking one wolf for one he knows. He's still all fuzzy, frowning.
Firebolt charges up his fists as Julian gets close. "Back off, punks!" he growls, firing a bolt of plasma at the telekinetic. Seconds later, he gets grabbed. Meanwhile, Stratosfire takes notice of Kaji and Laura. "Sit down!" she demonds, sending blasts of fire at each of them.
July blinks as Owen stops by his side, "Uh, I'm ok." she nods, remaining hidden behind the tree, "Who are those?" She asks, but she then frowns, "Never mind, just… stop them. What can I do?"
Fenrir's eye go wide at the fire blast. And he has no intention of becoming a flame broiled wolf. Doesn't sound appetizing. He takes a good leap backwards, plowing people who're still around down and backwards if he has too. "I prefer to stand, thanks." growls the wolf under his breath.
Hellion gets hit by the bolt of plasma. He's thrown back on his back, though as Laura calls out to him, he reaches up a hand and catches Laura with his power. Julian then pulls a telekinetic Fastball Special with Laura, sending her towards Firebolt. He gets up after she is thrown towards the stage, floating back up and returning, burns on his torso and his clothing scorched.
Fortunately for Laura, Julian's catch comes at the same time as that bolt of plasma jolts beneath her, aimed for her as she would fall. Caught off bursting through her gloves and shoes as she extends them fully, aimed at… well, Firebolt, evidently.
"What do ya'll want me tah do? Ah'm new at this?" Owen asks, rather surprised at July. "Ah dunno…lets get people outta here," he says, moving to start helping people up and away from the area of the fight. "This is not what Ah had in mind for tahday," he mutters.
Firebolt seems quite surprised by the clawed teenager rocketing towards him. There's a burst of flame from under him and he lifts up and away from the strike-zone. "Nice try, bitch!" he taunts. Stratosfire meanwhile sends a glare Julian's way. Pushing her hair from her eyes, the woman points a hand at Fenrir and the device on the back of her hand slides open. A stream of some bad-smelling oil is launched at the wolfman before Stratosfire vanishes in a flash of light. Who knows where she went.
July grumbles and nods, "Alright, let's get everyone outta here." she says, moving away from her tree and running toward the stage area, trying to help the people who fell down to get away from the fray, while keeping an eye on Julian and Laura.
Julian floats back onto the stage. His green glowing eyes look to Firebolt as he lifts up. "Get back here." He says, using both hands to try and catch and pull him back down to the stage. Hellion will try and force Firebolt down with his telekinesis.
Fenrir lets out a grunt, and then a whine as he takes another step back though his arms and most of his lower body gets drenched with the reeking fluid. His arms shaking to get the oil off as he backs away from any flames near him, his head shaking to try and get the smell away from him. It just smells… Gah. Worse than a farm!
Hitting the stage in a roll, Laura digs her claws into the stage to arrest her motion. Flipping up to a stand, Laura retracts the claws upon her feet, glancing across the way towards Firebolt. Wasn't there two? Regardless, Laura lunges forward, and swipes with her claws, trying to catch the man across the back of the shins with them.
Owen nods to July, coughing slightly as he gets too close to the some of the fire. There's a sudden flash of light behind him and he lets out a yell as he gets knocked towards July. The flash of light occurs twice more, Stratosfire appearing right infront of Julian and smirking a bit. He grabs the X-forcer by the back of the head and pulls him in for a sudden kiss. As soon as she's so close however, the woman in orange starts to drain the mutants telekinetic energy away from him.
Firebolt lets out a grunt as he's pulled back down. The stage around him starts to burn as he pulls closer and then gets cut. The man lets out a yell of pain before taking a swing at Laura with a glowing fist. Should the strike hit, the girl will be knocked back several feet by the enhanced strength blow.
July is hit by Owen flying toward her, and she tumbles, tangling herself up around him, taking a short bit to get herself back, "Ahh… W-what was that…" she says, then she notices the woman kissing Julian and her eyes go wide. "What!?" She then decides to act out of instinct, tossing her arms toward Stratosfire and attempt to wrap her arms around the girl's neck to pull her away from Hellion.
Fenrir shakes his head once more, letting a low growl at the smell as it makes his eyes start water a bit. He snaps his arms once or twice, making some oil fly off before he finds it useless and drops down onto all fours; taking off in the direction of his house. The sooner he gets there, the sooner he can get clean. Though he has some sense in his mind to dip into the shadows to mask his travels.
Julian is just about to punch Stratosfire before he is kissed. Though he feels the telekinetic energy being sapped from him. He flails as he tries to escape from her grasp, though after a second or two, he focuses and tries to actually punch at her.
Well, this was bad. That punch of Firebolt's strikes Laura in the belly, picking her up some and sending her skidding a little ways across from him. Gasping for breath, she shakily gets back to her feet, glaring across the way towards the man. Lunging forward, she crouches low… and then springs up with a flipping kick, hoping to catch Firebolt beneath the chin with her ~own~ enhanced strength.
Groaning, Owen gets to his feet and rolls away from July. "That hurt," he mutters. "Sorry," he pauses, watching Laura get sent flying. "Umm…" he trails off, teleporting to the stage to linger in the back and wait for an opening for some kind of attack. Firebolt meanwhile isn't expecting the attack, getting knocked back and off his feet by the kick. Looks like he lost a tooth too!
Stratosfire continues to sap Julian's energy, holding onto the younger man right up until July grabs her. With a screech as her hair gets pulled a bit, she takes the punch after being pulled away from Julian. "Bitch!" she calls back, sending a blast of flames at July.
July manages to grab the psycho and pull her away from Julian, but now she made herself a target. She yelps as flames travel her way, and she barely tumbles out of the way, her arms uncoiling from around Stratofire's neck. No saying what those flames would do to /her/!
The telekinetic stands back up after Stratosfire gets pulled by July. Hellion follows Stratosfire as she's pulled, reaching out to her and ascending up, bringing the villain with him. "That's it!" Julian yells out as he brings Stratosfire up with him. He's going to fight her up there, send her rocketing to the ground after a few hits.
Retracting her arm claws, Laura hopes to hammer the poor Firebolt with a few more punches across cheek and stomach, following that little combination with another kick that may send the man falling away from her, her green eyes fiery as she stares at the man.
Stratosfire curses as she's dragged up into the air, sending bolts of fiery energy at the telekinetic. Thankfully, this means she's ignoring July now and letting the rubber-girl get away.
Firebolt gets knocked back again by the punches. He starts to glow brightly as the blows rain in. When that kick comes and he gets sent flying, the man in black and red unleashes a blast of plasma out at Laura and Owen. And this one's larger than the previous blasts.
July managed to dodge the flames thrown her way, but only barely. The heat, though, managed to get a toll from her form, as she becomes a bit softer, but she shudders, gritting her teeth as she concentrates harder on her form, before looking up to watch Hellion pulling Stratosfire up in the air, and then she looks at Firebolt, and she bites her lower lip. Again, she stretches her arms toward him, hoping to wrap them around Firebolt's waist, and then try to toss him against the ground, face-first.
While up in the air, the telekinetic dodges the fireballs sent his way. He eventually sends her flying back down to the ground after bolting to give her a kick in the torso. The telekinetic is pissed, and the faster they can get rid of these two, the better.
Laura tries to twist out of the way of the oncoming blast, her eyes
full and wide as she stares across the way towards Firebolt.. and for the most part, she does. But the wave of superheated plasma rakes against her back and one of her arms, burning her terribly. She wanted to cry out in pain, and probably would have if she didn't clamp that reaction down. So she just falls to one knee, and casts a dark glare across the way towards Firebolt, the sharp stinging of the burning already starting to fade away from her.
"Oh crud," Owen gasps, pulling up the reaction to teleport. Doesn't look like he makes it in time as when he reappears…there's some burning fur and Owen hunched over on the ground and holding his sides. Firebolt laughs, getting back up from his landing. He's bleeding but seems to not care. "Gotta say it, bitch. You're a lot more fun to fight than the hippies," he tells Laura, stalking towards her. And then…THUD. Growling, Firebolt starts to heat up as he looks back at July.
Stratosfire screams as she's rapidly thrown downwards. Impacting the stage and shattering the wood, she starts to get up. It doesn't last long, Hellion's kick knocking her right out. The woman slumps in the wreckage.
July grins as her stunt works, but then she 'eeps' as Firebolt looks at heer, switching targets. "Oh-oh." she blinks, and then she attempts to punch Firebolt in the face before pulling her arms back and run out of the way of that blast!
Julian exits from the wreckage of the stage where he knocked out Stratosfire. As he gets up, he sees Laura and July taking on Firebolt. Hellion places a barrier between Firebolt and the rest of the others as the bolts start to fly. His eyes still glow green as his energy wasn't drained completely.
Clothes and skin still awful looking due to the very recent burn, Laura takes advantage of the distraction of Firebolt. The claws on her hands spring out again, but only on her right hand, Laura hoping to take ahold of Firebolt's shoulder, and hold the claws to his throat. Not to stab, but by the look in her eyes, she was very close to doing so. "You need to shut up now." she says, her tone of voice low and dangerous. "Bitch."
Firebolt lets out a yell, sending a plasma bolt flying after July. His eyes go wide when it rebounds off July's barrier and strikes him, knocking him back several feet. He's grabbed by Laura, first instict to attack. It's stopped when he notices how close the claws are to his neck. "Alright…I giv-" he doesn't get to finish. A rather loud screech piercing the air.
Anyone looking over towards where Owen was will see a slowly expanding sphere of DarkForce and the vague outline of a hulking figure with glowing green eyes vanishing into the inky blackness. That can't be good.
July shields her self with her arms as Firebolt fires his attack, but it's rebounded by Julian's force field. "What—?" July was about to ask what happened when she hears the screech, and her eyes widen in shock as she notices the blackness and the hulking figure inside it, "What… the… heck…?" She mutters, stunned in shock.
Julian was about to start on Firebolt telekinetically, but the screech distracts him. His cobalt blue eyes look at the figure in the blackness. "What the fuck?" He says, wondering just what he's going to have to fight now. "Any guesses?" He says, looking to Laura and July. "Wait, where's that Owen kid?" The X-Force member asks his allies.
A pause, with Laura looking up towards that inky black demonic thing. Glancing back down towards Firebolt, she narrows her eyes, and demands, "Stop it." She had a hunch that Firebolt wasn't doing it, but… hey.
"Stop what? That's not me, you crazy bitch!" Firebolt seems afraid now. He's even trying to struggle away from Laura.
The DarkForce sphere settles before reaching anyone and another screech rings out. A second later and a massive Man-Bat creature in tattered jean-shorts bursts from the top of it and starts to fly off into the city pretty quickly. As it does, the sphere starts fading away. When it's clear…the tattered remains of most of Owen's clothing is laying there. Uh oh.
July blinks, "I-I don't know!" she says in reply to Julian's question, shocked and scared. As the beast reveals itself and then blinks at the rest of clothes. "W-what happened?"
"Didn't Owen turn into some kind of bat-thing when he wrecked the living room?" He asks, hoping that July had heard the same that Julian did. "Nevermind. I'm goin' after it." He says, starting to raise up from the stage and fly towards the bat-man.
Retracting her claws, Laura tries to hammer down a punch at a spot on the side of the man's head, hoping to knock him out. Rising to her feet, assuming she was successful, she narrows her eyes, and stares at the skies after the two.
Firebolt mutters a curse as he blacks out, slumping down to the ruined stage. Seems one threat is finished. Up in the sky, the Bat apparently hears Julian chasing it, turning it's head slightly and screeching again. Suddenly, a large cloud of inky black darkness is left to block Hellion's path, giving the telekinetic a very cold area of darkness to fly into. By the time he gets out…the Man-Bat's gone. Definitely not good.
July shakes her head softly, "No… I didn't know that…" she says, eyes still wide as she looks at the man-bat flying away, and then she's broken out of her reverie when Laura decides to go after him. "Wait, what?"
Julian winces at the loud screech, slowing his flying for a moment before flying into the darkness. Seems he's determined to go in and catch up with the bat. Though when he comes out of the darkness, it is gone. julian searches for the bat in the sky, but to no avail.
Laura, for her part, gestures towards the pile of clothes. Moving over next to it, to crouch by the pile, she selects something g-rated enough… a scrap of his old shirt, she hopes, and brings that up to her nose, closing her eyes and getting a big sniff of it, before tossing it aside.
Thankfully, there's nothing but G-rated stuff in that pile and it is indeed Owen's clothings. Smells a little like burnt Owen. Well…feel bad for whoever has to explain this strageness to the teachers.
July stands up slowly after all the commotion is over, clutching her left side. She didn't get burned, but the heat did hurt her. "Was… was that Owen?" The rubber girl asks, looking toward where the beast disappeared to.
Julian lowers himself over to where Laura is. A look of frustration on his face. "Anything?" He asks X-23 as he's wondering how he can explain this to the X-Men without it looking like he was negligent. "It probably was." He informs July about Owen. "But I'm not sure."
Laura glances up at Julian, and gives her head a shake. "I know his scent now. But all I can tell at the moment, is that he's 'up' somewhere. That way." she says, pointing in the direction that he originally took off in.
As the sound of sirens is finally heard, the last of the Dark Force is fading away. Seems like there will be a bat hunt sometime but it seems like the mutants' nice day was ruined.
